BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA
There is no ice more unforgiving than the surface beneath a speedskater’s blades. It must be harder, colder and smoother than any other form of skating ice, engineered with microscopic precision to allow athletes to glide at extraordinary speeds with minimal friction. For decades, that requirement meant Olympic speedskating could only take place on permanent indoor tracks. That tradition will be broken at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games, where athletes will chase gold medals on a temporary indoor rink for the first time in Olympic history.
To make that leap possible, Olympic organizers turned to one of the most experienced figures in the field: ice master Mark Messer. A veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks, Messer is best known as the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada, widely regarded as one of the fastest speedskating venues in the world and home to more than 300 records. Now, he faces what he describes as one of the toughest challenges of his career.
Since the end of October, Messer has been building the ice layer by layer inside the newly constructed Speed Skating Stadium in Rho, just north of Milan. The venue has been created within adjacent trade fair halls, transforming an industrial exhibition space into a world-class Olympic arena.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,” Messer said early in the process, less than two weeks after work began.
Different skating disciplines demand different types of ice. Hockey ice is moderately hard, allowing fast puck movement and tight turns. Figure skating ice is softer, giving skaters the grip they need to launch into jumps and preventing the surface from cracking on hard landings. Curling ice is the warmest and softest of all, designed to control the slow, precise slide of heavy stones. Speedskating ice sits at the extreme end of the spectrum: it must be exceptionally hard, extremely cold, impeccably clean and perfectly smooth.
The reason is simple. Speedskating blades are razor-sharp, and any imperfection can cost precious time. “The blades are so sharp that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,” Messer said. “And when that happens, the skater loses speed.”
Former Italian speedskater Enrico Fabris understands the importance of those conditions better than most. Fabris won two Olympic gold medals at the Turin Games in 2006 and now serves as deputy sports manager at the Rho venue. From his perspective, the definition of perfect ice begins with fairness.
“The most important thing is that the conditions are the same for everyone,” Fabris said. “And if it’s fast ice, even better. It’s simply more of a pleasure to skate on this ice.”
Messer’s Olympic journey began in Calgary in 1988, the first Games to stage speedskating indoors. That shift eliminated weather-related variables such as wind, rain and snow, giving ice technicians far greater control. Nearly four decades later, Messer is pushing the boundaries again by overseeing the first temporary Olympic speedskating rink.
Before his arrival in Italy, construction crews spent weeks preparing the foundation. Thick insulation was installed to level the floor, followed by a dense network of pipes and rubber tubing carrying glycol, an antifreeze cooled to between minus 7 and minus 8 degrees Celsius. That system provides the cold base required for ice formation.
Water used for the ice is carefully purified, but not to the point of complete purity. “If it’s too pure, the ice becomes too brittle,” Messer explained. A controlled level of impurities helps bind the ice together, improving durability under the intense stress of racing and resurfacing.
The ice itself is built slowly and methodically. The first layers are applied using a fine spray nozzle, allowing each thin coat to freeze evenly. Once the ice reaches a few centimeters in thickness, it is painted white in a process that takes an entire day, followed by the careful addition of lane markings.
“The first pass takes about 45 minutes,” Messer said. “As soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again, and again. We repeat that process hundreds of times.”
As the ice thickens and stabilizes, workers transition from spray nozzles to hoses to apply larger volumes of water. Messer uses an improvised technique, attaching hoses to hockey sticks to spread the water evenly across the surface.
Absolute cleanliness is critical. Dust, dirt and frost can all increase friction, robbing skaters of speed. The goal, Messer said, is to allow skaters to travel as far as possible with the least amount of effort every time they push.
Maintaining that pristine surface depends heavily on the Zamboni, the six-ton ice resurfacing machine that shaves away a thin layer of ice and replaces it with fresh water. In a temporary rink, however, the machine presents its own challenges. Messer and his team must carefully monitor how quickly the resurfaced water freezes and ensure the ice reaches sufficient thickness to support the Zamboni’s weight without shifting the insulation, piping or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving, it will move,” Messer said. “We don’t want that.”
The rink faced its first major test on Nov. 29 and 30, when it hosted a Junior World Cup event. In permanent Olympic venues, such test competitions are often held a year in advance, allowing ample time for adjustments. In Rho, the timeline is far tighter.
“We have a very small window to learn,” Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters at the event, described the ice as slightly soft. Messer took the feedback in stride.
“We started very modestly,” he said. “Now we can begin adjusting the temperatures and making it faster while still keeping it safe.”
Fine-tuning remains a complex balancing act. Air temperature, humidity and ice temperature must be calibrated with precision, especially considering that up to 6,000 spectators will fill the arena during competition, adding heat and moisture to the environment. The next major milestone comes on Jan. 31, when Olympic athletes will step onto the ice for their first official training sessions.
By Messer’s estimate, most of the groundwork is complete, but the most demanding phase lies ahead. “Eighty percent of the work is done,” he said. “But the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to find the right values and the right way to run the equipment so every skater gets the same conditions — and the best conditions.”
When the Milan Cortina Games begin, the success of this unprecedented venue will be measured in fractions of a second, etched into the ice beneath the fastest skaters in the world.
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